CharlieH

In a matter of days the military government in Myanmar has lost control of much of its border with China. A co-ordinated attack by three ethnic insurgent armies in Shan State, supported by other armed groups opposing the government, has overrun dozens of military posts, and captured border crossings and the roads carrying most of the overland trade with China. It is the most serious setback suffered by the junta since it seized power in February 2021. After two-and-half years of battling the armed uprising it provoked with its disastrous coup, the military is looking weak, and possibly beatable. The government has responded with airstrikes and artillery bombardments, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes. But it has been unable to bring in reinforcements or recover the ground it has lost. Among hundreds of troops killed is believed to be the commander of government forces in northern Shan State, Brigadier General Aung Kyaw Lwin, the most senior officer killed in combat since the coup. What makes this attack even more significant is that it marks the first time that the well-armed insurgents operating in Shan State have explicitly aligned themselves and their military operations with the wider campaign to overthrow the junta and restore democratic rule. However, there are other factors at play. These three insurgent groups have long-held ambitions to expand the territory they hold. And crucially China, which normally acts as a restraining influence on all the groups along its border with Myanmar, has not prevented this operation from going ahead. That is probably because of its frustration over the military government's inaction over the scam centres which have proliferated in Shan State. Thousands of Chinese citizens and other foreigners have been forced to work in these scam centres. The insurgents say one of their aims is to close them down. FULL STORY

The second in command of Hezbollah - the powerful Iranian backed militia in Lebanon - has said Israel's killing of civilians in Gaza risks wider war in the Middle East. Sheikh Naim Qassem told the BBC that "very serious and very dangerous developments could occur in the region, and no-one would be able to stop the repercussions". Hezbollah's deputy leader was speaking in an interview in Beirut, as the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said more than 10,000 people had been killed there. Israel's assault follows the Hamas attacks on 7 October which killed 1,400 people - 1,000 of them civilians. "The danger is real," he said, "because Israel is increasing its aggression against civilians and killing more women and children. Is it possible for this to continue and increase, without bringing real danger to the region? I think not." He insisted any escalation would be linked to Israel's actions. "Every possibility has a response," he said. Hezbollah, "the Party of God" has plenty of possibilities. The Shia Islamist group - classed as a terrorist organisation by the UK, US and the Arab League - is the largest political and military force in Lebanon. So far its response to the war in Gaza has involved amplifying its warnings, but carefully calibrating its actions. When an Israeli strike killed a woman and three children in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Hezbollah used Grad rockets for the first time in the conflict, killing an Israeli civilian. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has threatened that every civilian death in Lebanon will reap another across the border. But notably, he has not threatened Israel with all-out war While insisting that "all options are on the table" the militant group has confined itself to cross-border attacks, hitting mainly military targets. More than 60 of its fighters have been killed, but it has plenty more battle-hardened supporters to replace them. One fighter buried in Beirut this week was the fifth member of his family to die for Hezbollah, going back generations. Throughout our interview the organisation's deputy leader tried to portray Hezbollah as a defensive organisation - though it is committed to Israel's destruction and sparked a war with Israel in 2006 by abducting two of its soldiers in a cross-border raid. Sheikh Qassem claimed Israel "initiated the aggression against Gaza in a hideous way". When the BBC pointed out that it was Hamas that had attacked Israel on 7 October, he defended the attacks as an inevitable response to Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. He repeated the unfounded claim that Israeli forces, not Hamas, killed many Israeli civilians. But what of the helmet cameras - worn by the Hamas militants themselves - showing them on a killing spree? FULL STORY

U.S. forces struck a weapons storage facility Wednesday in eastern Syria used by Iran and its proxies after continued attacks against American troops in the region, according to the Pentagon. President Biden directed the “self-defense strike” on the facility, used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups, using two U.S. F-15s, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. “This precision self-defense strike is a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates,” Austin said. “The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests.” U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked at least 42 times since Oct. 17 — including two in the last 24 hours — with one-way drones and rockets. At least 46 service members have been injured in these assaults, which Defense officials have claimed that Iran is responsible for. In addition, an American MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone was shot down off the coast of Yemen on Wednesday by the Iranian-backed Houthis, a Defense official confirmed. Attacks on American troops in the region have been consistent following the start of the Israel-Hamas war, a conflict that has created unrest in the Middle East. FULL STORY

Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden have been subpoenaed Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee, which took the remarkable step of seeking depositions from family members of President Biden amid its impeachment inquiry. As part of the request, the committee asked for James Biden’s wife, Sarah Biden, as well as Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen, to sit for transcribed interviews. The panel also asks for interviews with Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden, and her sister Elizabeth Secundy. The subpoenas come weeks after the Oversight Committee demanded both Hunter and James Biden’s personal bank records, and also include a subpoena for Hunter Biden’s former business partner Rob Walker. The panel is also requesting to speak with Tony Bobulinski, whom Hunter Biden’s attorney have accused of lying to the FBI. The release from House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he “plans to send additional subpoenas and transcribed interview requests later this week.” The move to compel their testimony comes the day after special counsel David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware who is investigating Hunter Biden, sat for a voluntary interview with lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee, another panel in the trio leading the investigation. The subpoenas are the first major move since the election of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has backed efforts to impeach President Biden even as he’s spoken of the need to use the congressional power sparingly. The White House pointed to the challenge of electing Johnson and an impending government shutdown in dismissing the subpoenas as a “smear campaign” against the president. FULL STORY

Nick Ackerman, a former Watergate prosecutor, said former President Trump is “toast” in his New York civil fraud case, arguing it is a “stupid move” for the former president to testify in his case after invoking the Fifth Amendment in a deposition for it last summer. “And basically at this point, Donald Trump is toast,” Ackerman said in a CNN interview. “I mean, he is basically going to be found to be a liar by the judge here.” New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) office is suing Trump, the Trump organization and Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., for $250 million over allegations of more than a decade of fraud. The suit accuses Trump, some of his children and their business of falsely inflating and deflating the value of the Trump Organization’s assets in order to receive lower taxes and more insurance coverage. Ackerman argued people are not only focused on the former president’s testimony, but also his deposition with James’s lawyers last summer, where he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 400 times. “Now what does it mean to take the Fifth Amendment? It means that you are refusing to answer a question, because a truthful answer would tend to be incriminating,” Ackerman said. “Then what did Donald Trump do last week? He went into court and said, ‘Oh, I didn’t do anything fraudulent, I wasn’t involved in a fraud.’ Which is just the opposite what in effect he was saying when he took the Fifth Amendment in his deposition.” “So you’ve got contradictory testimony,” Ackerman continued. “You can use his assertion of the Fifth Amendment against him to basically find that he’s lying, that he’s manipulating the system when he goes in, refuses to answer questions, answers the questions in a half-baked manner.” Trump took the stand earlier this week, where he defended his business practices and condemned those involved in the case as politically motivated “Trump haters.” FULL STORY

High number of posts removed again ! This incessant bickering and trolling between a certain group of members, that is dominating nearly every topic they enter often resulting in the topic being derailed and even closed. Banter is one thing, but continually baiting, insults, making personal comments and even giving members locations out has to STOP. Be warned ! any more of this type of behaviour and you will be leaving this forum.

Scotland Yard last night gave the green light to a pro-Palestine rally on Armistice Day as its top cop claimed it had 'no absolute power' to ban the protest. In a thinly veiled swipe at the Home Secretary, Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley said the laws of Parliament and intelligence gathered by its sources did not justify a ban. The country's most senior police officer said the protest, which is expected to draw in 70,000 people, could only be banned if there was a 'real threat' of serious disorder. This was despite fears of violent clashes between the marchers and Right-wing activists. The rally's organisers had already rebuffed the Met's pleas to postpone. They have also defied Rishi Sunak, who said the event was 'disrespectful', and Suella Braverman, who called it a 'hate march'. Sir Mark said he could not ban Saturday's demonstration simply because people felt it should not take place. 'The laws created by Parliament are clear. There is no absolute power to ban protest, therefore there will be a protest this weekend,' he insisted. 'The law provides no mechanism to ban a static gathering of people. It contains legislation which allows us to impose conditions to reduce disruption and the risk of violence, and in the most extreme cases when no other tactics can work, for marches or moving protests to be banned.' He said use of the power to block moving protests is 'incredibly rare' and must be reserved for cases where there is intelligence to suggest a 'real threat' of serious disorder. FULL STORY

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated a call on Tuesday for Palestinian civilians to move south for their own safety as the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are fighting “in the heart of Gaza City”. In a televised statement, Netanyahu said there would be no ceasefire before Hamas released Israeli hostages. “I’m calling on the citizens of Gaza: please go south. I know you’re already doing that. Complete the move to the south because Israel will not stop. There’s no entry of workers and there will be no ceasefire without our hostages being back home,” Netanyahu said. Meanwhile, the IDF are fighting “in the heart of Gaza City”, according to the head of the military’s southern command. Major General Yaron Finkelman said the IDF was fighting in the “heart of terror” for the “first time in decades” and the operation was “complex and difficult”. Troops are expected to begin marching through the streets of the capital this week, where they are expected to face Hamas operatives, according to local media. It comes as the United Nations warned “no place” was safe in Gaza and said hundreds have been killed sheltering in UN buildings .FULL STORY

President Biden’s reelection campaign sent a memo to news outlets Tuesday asserting that there’s disparity in the way the media has covered polling, so far, following the coverage of the latest set of polls that show Biden trailing former President Trump in a hypothetical 2024 rematch. The memo from Biden-Harris 2024 communications director Michael Tyler was sent first exclusively to The Hill. It will be sent to political directors, editors, and producers at major media outlets and television networks, according to the memo. “Despite the ‘hair-on-fire’, ‘sky-is-falling’ tone we’ve seen from media coverage over the last few days, political predictions more than a year out tend to look a little different a year later. Gallup predicted an eight-point loss for President Obama only for him to win handedly a year later. A year out from the 2022 midterms, every major outlet similarly predicted a grim forecast for President Biden,” Tyler said in the memo. Tyler cited polling that showed Biden leading Trump or is tied with the former president from Oct. 17 through Nov. 6, including polls from NPR/PBS/Marist, Yahoo News/YouGov, USA/Suffolk, and Quinnipiac University, among others. “In recent days, the New York Times/Siena College poll has gotten non-stop attention to the exclusion of nearly every other poll. But if you zoom out, you’ll see a more complete picture. There have been eight polls in the past three weeks showing President Biden leading or tied with Donald Trump,” Tyler said. FULL STORY

Bickering exchange completely removed. A difference of opinion is one thing but no excuse to be rude or abusive, that will result in the entire exchange being deleted. See community guidelines.

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That's enough of that bickering trollfest. CLOSED

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Not a forum issue. MOVED

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ELECTRICAL forum MOVED

Just to add my experience/ I had one, went into the local Cop shop with it. Answer: do what you like but DONT carry it in public, it could be mistaken easily and you could be SHOT ! On your own premesis, transporting in your vehicle from A-B in its box.OK Thats MY experience and what I was told by the local BiB And before someone chimes in with why, I used it to fire at birds roosting in the eaves of a building, until I discovered a laser pen worked better. Tip: Go see your local Cops, as there is rarely consistency and its them likely to come at you if wrong, ask them ! Get it from the horses mouth so to speak.

Is alcohol costing you more than money? For many ex-pats who have retired and are living in Thailand, besides having fun and some well-earned R&R, the allure of the bars can also have a downside. With plenty of time on their hands and generous pensions, for some, alcohol can develop into a harmful dependency. Is there a support group that can help people overcome their addiction to alcohol? Of course, the most well-known and successful method for overcoming alcohol dependencies is support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Since AA's inception, millions of alcoholics have overcome their addictions and recreated their lives. Some people who come to AA walk away again quite quickly. They cannot deal with frequent references to God and a higher power often mentioned at meetings. For those wanting to stop drinking but don’t believe in the traditional idea of God, there is now a potentially helpful alternative. "The Twelve Steps for Agnostics" is a recent book published by an alcoholic in AA who identifies as an agnostic. With the help of other agnostic members, he found a way to achieve successful sobriety without having to worry about the ‘God’ word as it appears in the steps. This new book, available on Amazon, may prove to be a helpful resource for agnostics and atheists to overcome their addiction to alcohol. It should be noted that this is not AA-approved literature.

PUBLIC NOTICE The amount of Moderation, reports made and constant attention this thread is requiring is reaching it limits ! Certain individuals who appear not to take notice of the warnings issued in this thread may soon find themselves excluded if this continues.

Going to be on everything shortly, every time you post "are you sure" when you change forums "are you sure" and even when you want to login !! Are you sure ?........except when you log out...."NO chance"!

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Volume and weight generally.

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More info needed, but in very general terms, whatever the deposit period is generally the notice period unless specified in a written lease/agreement. One month deposit one month termination either side is the standard unless there is a breach somewhere.